The Ultimate Guide to the Postgraduate Diploma in Law: Your Pathway to Legal Practice

Jun 18, 2023

Written By John Toher

So, you’ve spent three or four years studying astrophysics or English literature or nursing and have decided to perform a U-turn and become a lawyer. Where do you start? First step is navigating your way through a blizzard of confusing acronyms such as GDL, PGDL, LPC, SQE1, SQE2 etc. and figuring out which ones are relevant to you. The answer is more or less all of them, actually, but let’s start at the beginning.

What is the Postgraduate Diploma in Law?

The Postgraduate Diploma in Law (PGDL) is a law conversion course for non-law graduates. It replaced the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) when the Legal Practice Course (LPC) was the only option to qualify as a solicitor.

Essentially, the PGDL is a crash course law degree condensed into eight months, where you learn all the key skills and competencies needed to become a lawyer. Speaking from experience this course is not for the faint hearted nor those short of time. It is also very enjoyable, if at times incredibly stressful.

While the GDL was obligatory for non-law graduates pursuing the LPC, the PGDL is not obligatory for those pursuing the SQE. Despite this, the PGDL is a great way to get up to speed with the core areas of law you must know in order to pass the first part of the SQE exams, the SQE1.

How is the PGDL structured?

This varies according to which course provider you decide to go with. Generally speaking, the course consists of a combination of lectures, tutorials and workshops. Sounds familiar, right? The key difference with a standard undergraduate degree course is that you are expected to spend a considerable amount of time preparing for classes. This often takes several hours as you need to absorb and understand a lot of information, which you will be expected to discuss in tutorials and workshops via group tasks, presentations, and quizzes.

Failure to adequately prepare can result in being highly confused in class, where your classmates demonstrate their understanding of convoluted legal terminology. Adequate preparation can take several hours per class. The teaching methods will vary from institution to institution, however, so make sure you research how the course is formatted before you choose which one to go with.

PGDL modules

As mentioned, the course is condensed into a standard academic year of eight months full-time, or double if you decide to study part-time. The modules will vary according to your institution. An example of one major provider’s modules are:

- English Legal System and Constitutional Law

- Contract Law

- Criminal Law

- Tort Law

- Administrative Law and Human Rights

- Land Law

- Law of Organisations

- Equity and Trusts

The modules are assessed through a combination of oral presentations, closed and open book exams and essays. This again will vary depending on where you are studying. The pass rate is 50% for each module.

Entry requirements

Most PGDL providers require a minimum of a 2:2 in your undergraduate degree to be admitted to the course. Most will accept extenuating circumstances if you do not meet this requirement.

However, keep in mind that the top law firms are receiving hundreds of applications from candidates with a 2:1 or above. While many look at results on a case by case basis, if you have a 2:2, you’ll need to make sure the rest of your application is exemplary.

PGDL/CPE